City budget meeting may have been illegal

Troy City Council budget meeting, held Sept. 8 in Mayor Don Banning’s absence, could still be construed as illegal, according to information provided by Montana legal advisors this week.

“Sometimes meetings are closed and reopened,” City of Missoula Attorney, Jim Nugent said. “If a meeting was adjourned, that is different.”

Montana code 7-5-4102 (c) gives the authority to the mayor to call special meetings of the Council as the executive branch of the municipal body.

“If the mayor wasn’t there, I don’t see how the judicial branch could call a special meeting,” Dan Clark, Director for the Montana State University Local Government Center said.

Montana code 7-5-4101 states the general powers of the municipal Council to make and pass all bylaws, ordinances, orders and resolutions.

“The resolutions and the budget I proposed were not passed in the first budget meeting,” Banning said. “The resolution numbers and the budget had to be changed before they could be voted on again.”

Montana code 7-3-4101 (d) states the mayor is to be solely responsible for the preparation of the annual budget.

It is the mayor’s responsibility to prepare and execute the budget. However, the council may vote the way they want and tweak it Clark said.

According to Nugent, if the original meeting was closed as opposed to being adjourned, the meeting technically could be reopened.

“If the meeting reconvened in a timely manner, 20 minutes or so, the courts might not see a problem with it,” Nugent said.

Banning has expressed concern for the legality of the meeting openly. The mayor by Montana code 2-3-213 Voidability had the opportunity to declare the meeting void within 30 days of the meeting Sept. 8. However, he did not make the decision in time. 

During the Council meeting held Oct. 19, the mayor chose to veto the resolutions No. 647 and No. 648 — the Council overrode his veto.

The mayor has been encouraged to adopt a budget regardless of the situation by outside legal advisors.